Geovanni Franco

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. Among this week's rulings, the seven-day prohibition on intra-articular injections prior to a timed workout continues to trip up stakeholders. Six new individuals are facing possible sanctions for violations of this rule, to go with the 30 individuals whose cases have already been resolved. A typical first-time violation comes with a $3,000 fine. One of the trainers in question is Ignacio Correas, whose trainee Didia violated the intra-articular injection rule prior...

Jockey Geovanni Franco notched the 1,000th win of his career when his mount Miss Commander, who was second under the wire, was promoted to the victory in the second race at Del Mar Saturday. Asked if getting the milestone victory via DQ tarnished the achievement, Franco said with a smile, "It doesn't. I've won plenty of races by DQ and I'll take a winner any way they come." Franco has been riding at Del Mar since 2017, with a year off in 2022 when he moved his tack back to...

Anthony Fanticola's Motorious (GB) (Muhaarar {GB}) rallied smartly through the final furlong and half to prove a much-the-best winner of Saturday's GIII Green Flash H. at Del Mar, sewing up a fees-paid berth into the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint up the road at Santa Anita in early November in the process. Sent off the 13-5 favorite with Geovanni Franco replacing the injured Umberto Rispoli in the irons, Motorious raced in about seventh position of the 12 runners down the backstretch, but not terribly far off the pace disputed by...

The riders of both the winner and the fourth-place horse in a $108,0000 allowance race on last Saturday's GI Arkansas Derby undercard both were fined for apparently forgetting that mile races at Oaklawn Park end at the sixteenth pole and not the traditional finish wire. Geovanni Franco and John Velazquez each were assessed $200 fines from the Oaklawn stewards on Thursday for "misjudging the wire and striking his horse after the finish of the fourth race at Oaklawn Park on April 2, 2022." Franco was on the lead for most...

Briland Farm's Secret Oath (Arrogate), preparing to take on the boys in the Apr. 2 GI Arkansas Derby, worked a bullet five furlongs in :59.40 (1/34) Thursday at Oaklawn Park. Clockers caught Secret Oath covering her first eighth of a mile in :12, a quarter-mile in :23.80 and three furlongs in :36 before galloping out six furlongs in 1:12.40. "The filly, that's a running machine, man," said jockey Geovanni Franco, who was aboard for the work. "She was nice. That's a great experience for me. I was the work rider...

The Ron McAnally trained Roses and Candy has tested positive for 7-Carboxy-Cannabidiol, a metabolite of cannabidiol, after a win at Del Mar on Nov. 22 last year, according to a complaint filed by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) Monday. Because CBD is currently unclassified in California, a positive finding is by default a class 1, category A drug violation, requiring that the horse is disqualified and purse monies forfeited. Under CHRB rules, such a violation can also lead to a minimum one-year suspension or a maximum three-year suspension, with...